Perceptual specificity of priming for compound words not presented.

Two experiments extended prior work on the perceptual specificity of priming to compound words not presented during a study phase. In both experiments, perceptual manipulations were employed, and priming was obtained on a word fragment completion test (e.g., c_ec_po_nt) where the lexical elements of the compounds (check and point) were presented in different study words. In Experiment 1, priming was highest when identical fragments for the lexical components were presented during the study phase (c_ec_list, needlepo_nt) and test phase (c_ec po_nt). In Experiment 2, visual study presentations, but not auditory study presentations, led to significant priming. The findings are consistent with predictions from transfer-appropriate processing and demonstrate perceptual, not lexical (post-perceptual), priming.